Hosemann v. Technical Materials, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 December 1982
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 80-0482.
• Citation: 554 F. Supp. 659
• Parties: Margaret HOSEMANN v. TECHNICAL MATERIALS, INC.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Rhode Island

554 F. Supp. 659

Margaret HOSEMANN v. TECHNICAL MATERIALS, INC.

Civ. A. No. 80-0482.

United States District Court, D. Rhode Island.

December 1, 1982.

William Robinson, III, Edwards & Angell, Providence, R.I., for defendant.

Ernest Barone, Providence, R.I., for plaintiff.

OPINION

SELYA, District Judge.

The plaintiff, Margaret Hosemann, sued Technical Materials, Inc. ("TMI"), claiming that the defendant discriminated against her on the basis of sex, in violation of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq. ("Title VII").¹ Plaintiff alleges that TMI discharged her from employment while failing to oust similarly situated male employees. Both parties have engaged in comprehensive pre-trial discovery. Upon the completion of discovery, each party then filed a motion for summary judgment. Following the submission of briefs, oral arguments on these cross-motions were heard by the Court on November 1, 1982. As no material facts appear to be in dispute, the Court finds summary judgment to be appropriate in this case. Cartagena v. Secretary of the Navy, 618 F.2d 130, 137 (1st Cir.1980).

I. Factual Background

Ms. Hosemann began working at TMI on November 27, 1978.² She was hired as a "brusher" at an hourly wage of $3.50 for a sixty day probationary period. Upon the completion of plaintiff's training, her hourly wage was increased to $3.75. In the spring of 1979, TMI supervisors John Pereira and David Sigman, and the TMI personnel manager, Eileen Morrow, jointly decided that the TMI laboratory staff was in need of augmentation and elected to add an additional staff member, thereby increasing the laboratory complement from three to four persons. Ms. Hosemann was transferred to this newly-created position on April 10, 1979. Sigman was her immediate supervisor in the laboratory. Although Ms. Hosemann received no pay increase for her work in the laboratory, she apparently perceived her transfer as a promotion, and professedly enjoyed her new work.

On Saturday, April 28, 1979, approximately three weeks after plaintiff began her duties as a laboratory trainee, she injured her leg in a non-work-connected motorcycle accident. Although no fractures were sustained, the injury caused tenderness and swelling to Ms. Hosemann's knee and ankle. On the following work day (Monday, April 30, 1979), plaintiff went to TMI's offices and discussed her injuries with Sigman. She told him that her knee and ankle hurt so badly that she could hardly walk. Sigman asked Ms. Hosemann to try to return to work the following day, and Ms. Hosemann replied that she would make the effort.

The next morning, however, the plaintiff called the switchboard at TMI and left a message that she would not be able to work that day. Deposition of Margaret Hosemann, October 3, 1980, at 31 ("Deposition"). Later that same day, Sigman returned Ms. Hosemann's call. He described the purpose of this call as follows:

"I telephoned her and attempted to find out the nature and extent of her injuries and the date when she expected to be able to return to work. I explained to the plaintiff that I needed this information in order to arrange adequate coverage in the lab and would have to replace her in the lab ... if she could not give me that information."

Affidavit of David Sigman, dated July 2, 1982 ("Sigman Affidavit"), at ¶ 5. Ms. Hosemann admitted in substance that this conversation took place; she testified that, during this exchange, Sigman offered to hold available for her, until such time as her health permitted her to resume work, a position as an inspector at TMI. Deposition at 34. Plaintiff testified that she regarded the inspector's job as a "lower job" and surmised that it must have paid "less money". Id. at 34. She told Sigman that she was not interested in the inspection position.³ In any event, TMI did not immediately fill the laboratory slot, but continued with commendable patience to await Ms. Hosemann's anticipated recuperation.

Thereafter, Sigman telephoned Ms. Hosemann almost every day for the next two weeks in a continuing attempt to determine when she would return to work. These discussions proved remarkably uninformative. Plaintiff did, however, give Sigman the name, address and telephone number of the physician who was treating her for the injuries. Sigman endeavored to contact this doctor, but was only able to speak with a nurse, who could not or would not give him any information.

Approximately two weeks after Ms. Hosemann's injury, Ms. Morrow, the personnel manager at TMI, telephoned the plaintiff to find out how she was feeling and when she would be returning to work. Ms. Hosemann told Ms. Morrow that she still did not know when she might be able to resume her employment, but that she would have some definite information on this subject in the near future, after her "next" visit to her physician.⁴ Although Ms. Hosemann visited two different doctors several times during this period,⁵ she admits that she did not ask either doctor when she could return to work. Deposition at 36, 43-44. Her promise to furnish an end-of-disability estimate after her "next" doctor's visit proved to be as empty as Mother Hubbard's storied cupboard.⁶

The plaintiff did not call either Sigman or Ms. Morrow again until the end of May, when she contacted the latter.⁷ The record is uncertain as to whether this call took place on May 30, 1979 or on May 31, 1979, but the exact date is irrelevant, as the parties agree that the call was in fact made and received. During that discussion, Ms. Hosemann asked Ms. Morrow if there would be a job waiting for her when she returned. Ms. Morrow told the plaintiff that she would be terminated from her employment at TMI because she had been absent from work and had not furnished TMI with any information as to when she would be able to return. Ms. Hosemann also was informed that she would be furnished a letter to that effect. Deposition at 48.⁸ Ms. Hosemann did not, even at that time, offer any estimated return date. She did, however, complain that she was being treated unfairly; but she did not tell Ms. Morrow, nor otherwise intimate, that she was being treated unfairly because of her gender. Deposition at 50.

The letter Ms. Hosemann received was dated May 31, 1979, and stated, in pertinent part:

As of this date we find it necessary to terminate you from employment at TMI. Because of your extended illness, we have found it necessary to fill your position as Lab worker in order to keep our production in process.

Since we have not heard from you since we offered you an alternate position, as an inspector, on your return to work, we can only assume that you are not interested.

Exhibit J to plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff never contradicted the employer's stated assumption that she was bereft of any interest in the inspector's post.

On June 4, 1979, Mario Festa, who had worked as a shipper at TMI since mid-1978, was assigned to Ms. Hosemann's former position in the laboratory. He was selected for that position on the basis of seniority. Ms. Hosemann testified that she would have been willing to go back to the brusher's job, but she kept this thought to herself. Deposition at 82. She told neither Ms. Morrow nor Sigman that she would be willing to accept her former position. She explains this silence as resulting from her belief that the job had already been filled, and "no one was listening to me anyway." Deposition at 82.

Ms. Hosemann contends that between 1977 and 1979, seven male employees and one female employee were allowed to return to work at TMI after periods of disability ranging from three to twenty weeks. She claims that because of her sex, she was not allowed the same privilege.⁹ The record indicates, however, that each of these eight employees seasonably informed TMI as to when they would be able to return to work. Answer to Interrogatory No. 13, Exhibit D; Sigman Affidavit at ¶ 9. The record also indicates that one male employee was terminated because of illness, after an absence of one week. Answer to Interrogatory No. 14, Exhibit D. Ms. Hosemann testified that, aside from her termination, no other incidents occurred which led her to believe that she was being discriminated against because of her sex. Deposition at 67.

In her complaint, Ms. Hosemann alleged that Sigman's daily telephone calls during her first two weeks of absence from work constituted harassment. No other allegations of harassment are contained in her complaint. In Plaintiff's Answers to Defendant's Interrogatories, filed January 10, 1981 ("Plaintiff's Answers"), however, she described another putative incident of harassment. Apparently, a co-worker at TMI, one Lou Ricci,¹⁰ had left her a note telling her that "everything was okay" and "there were no breaks or anything." Answer to Interrogatory No. 4, Plaintiff's Answers. Ms. Hosemann performed an inspection anyway and "I found two breaks. If I would let them go, the mills would break down and I would get in trouble but he had sent me that note where it said everything was okay." Id. Ms. Hosemann testified that this same employee always complained and tried to make her do her work poorly, deposition at 94-95, but that none of her male co-workers ever attempted to touch her against her will or made fun of her because she was a woman. Id. at 95.¹¹

Plaintiff asserts that the foregoing facts establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination. She further urges that, even if the reasons articulated for her discharge were sufficient to raise the defense of business necessity, the evidence in the record warrants an inference of "pretext". She therefore seeks reinstatement, back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, costs and disbursements, attorneys' fees, and other appropriate relief.

II. Summary Judgment Standard

Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment may be granted only "if the pleadings,...